Conventionally, touch panel or touch screen architecture is based on the concept of a page. A page represents the viewing area of a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen and is composed of a background image or color with overlaid buttons. There are numerous button types, and buttons can be configured with options, such as size, placement, color, border, transparency, etc. Buttons can be as simple as on/off and as complex as video windows.
Nevertheless, buttons and pages have several limitations when compared with current user interfaces on consumer touch devices. For example, buttons must be fixed on a page and cannot be moved, and pages cannot be moved or scrolled. There is no repository used to store off-screen graphics or buttons that can be moved into view when desired.
A popup page is smaller than a full screen page and may be displayed over a page. Popups can also be moved around the screen. However, current popup implementations still have various limitations. Several popups can be displayed over a page at one time, but if any one of the popup pages is moved, the other pages stay in place. Popups can be grouped together but only one at a time can be displayed from the associated group. Popups cannot be moved offscreen or moved onto a screen in a scrolling manner as the content on screen at any given time is the only content readily available.